Benham. — On Netv Zealand Earthworms. 159 



interesting and valuable contributions to this subject from the 

 hands of Mr. Smith.-'' I hope to complete and extend the 

 work along both lines of research, especially as Beddard's 

 observations deal with preserved material, and with compara- 

 tively small numbers of specimens. I hope to examine large 

 series in a comparative manner, to ascertain how far variation 

 occurs, and especially to add details of colouration and habit 

 to Beddard's accounts of anatomy. One of my first steps in 

 this direction after my arrival at Dunedin was to examine the 

 types of Captain Hutton's species, which I fortunately dis- 

 covered in the store-room of the Otago University Museum. 

 The following are the names of the types as given by him, 

 with certain remarks upon them : — 



1. Lumbricus uliginosus. 



I was unable to find the type ; but it is evident from 

 Hutton's description that the worm belongs to the family 

 AcanthodrilidcB, and may possibly be identical with Beddard's 

 Acanthodrilus nova-zelandice, or A. roscB. 



2. Lumbricus campestris. 



There are three bottles so labelled — (a) Collected in 

 "Dunedin"; (b) "Water of Leith " ; and (c) "From Wel- 

 lington." 



(a.) The bottle labelled "Dunedin" contained two speci- 

 mens, mature and well preserved, which were at once recognis- 

 able from the forward position of the clitellum as Acantho- 

 drilids. The fact that there is only one pair of papillae, 

 on the 17th segment carrying the pores of the spermiducai 

 glands, in place of two pairs — on the 17th and 19th — as in 

 the rest of the family, characterizes it as Neodrilus,\ of which 

 only one species is at present known — viz., N. moHoci/stis — 

 with which this specimen closely agrees. Moi-eover, I have 

 myself collected this species under logs in the meighbour- 

 hood. 



(b.) Contains a single individual, and the posterior end of 

 another. This is also Neodrilus. 



(c.) The bottle from Wellington contains three specimens, 

 of which one is smaller than the others. All agree in external 

 characters, and are nothing else than Lumbricus rubellus, 

 Hoffmeister. The prostomium, as in all the species of the 

 genus Lumbricus, reaches back to the groove between the 

 1st and 2nd segments ; the clitellum occupies segments 27 

 to 32, but the 26th shows some glandular modification. The 

 tubercula pubertatis are on segments 28 to 31. The worm is 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vols, xix., xxv., and xxvi. 



t For description, see Benham, Quart. Journ. Microsc. Sci., xxxiii., 

 1892, p. 289 ; and for remarks, see Beddard, " Monograph of the Order 

 Oligochceta," p. 535. 



